Stargirl
by anotherdance
Summary: She's going to be like her dad. Saving lives among the stars. Joanna McCoy gen fic, with very mild Jim/Bones if you squint.


For anyone who might not know, Joanna McCoy was referenced to in the Star Trek Animated Series episode "The Survivor" and has become a vital part of fanon in the Star Trek 2009 fandom. This fic is set post-movie, and while I've left Joanna's age deliberately ambiguous, it's safe to assume she's still quite young. There is implied Jim/Bones in this fic, though it's incredibly mild – you need to squint to see it, really. This story is a one shot and is it complete.

**Stargirl**

Joanna McCoy is not impressed.

So he's the youngest captain in Starfleet history, but is that really such a big deal? And maybe he _is_ kind of handsome but she still doesn't see what's fun in devoting hours to staring and giggling at his picture in Tiger Beat magazine like her friends do.

The whole world is in love with Captain James T. Kirk and Joanna really doesn't understand why.

To her, he's the person who takes her dad away. Into space. Where it's cold and dark and dangerous and from where, one day, he might not come back.

Joanna knows that people who go into space don't always come back.

Her friends are more excited about her first trip to the _Enterprise_ than she is and they shriek and giggle some more about Captain Kirk, but Joanna just wants to see her dad and she doesn't care if that means going into space or the local mall.

The first person she meets once her dad's gotten her settled in and her stuff unpacked, and she's wandering around the halls to see what there is to do up here, is Mr Spock. She likes him right away because he talks to her like she's a grown up too and doesn't seem to mind answering any questions she has.

And he has cool ears.

Her friends are going to be so jealous she's met a real-life Vulcan. Most of them haven't been into space yet, or have only been to leisure planets with their parents and nothing that exciting ever happens on those.

She doesn't meet Captain Kirk until almost the end of her first day aboard. He joins her and dad for dinner in the mess, and he steals dad's dessert and tells a story about the time he and dad found an uncharted planet and the natives tried to make dad their King.

"I would've stayed if it had been me," insists Captain Kirk, between mouthfuls of replicated custard. "Pretty neat set up, that palace they wanted to give you. All those willing servants, all those harem girls..."

"You're forgetting about the part where they would have scarified me to their God during the next starfall. You know, when they would have had me burned at the stake like something out of the Salem witch trails?"

"There were no witches burned in Salem, Bones. That's a myth."

Captain Kirk is actually okay, Joanna decides. He's not as cool as Mr Spock but he's easy-going and funny and he has the bluest eyes she's ever seen. He walks around the _Enterprise_ with Joanna perched on his shoulders and she's really too old for it but he tells fun stories and does things like showing her the Bridge and the engineering decks. She really likes Scotty, despite not being able to understand most of what he says in that thick accent. He's alright, though, because he lets her help while he works, letting her hand him his tools and promising to share his secret stash of moonshine when she's old enough.

The best thing about Captain Kirk, more than the secrets and the stories, is that he makes dad smile. She hasn't seen dad smile so much in all her life as she has in the last couple of days on the _Enterprise_ when Call Me Jim is around. At first she thought they were arguing when they go back and forth with each other the way they do but dad assured her it's just banter and that James Tiberius Kirk is the best friend he's ever had. But don't tell Jim, dad had warned, because his head is already the size of Jupiter as it is.

On Joanna's sixth day aboard the ship is attacked and there's fire and smoke and people screaming, and she can't find her dad or Jim or Mr Spock.

She was in one of the corridors when the first hit happened and was thrown off her feet, but she's not hurt and manages to regain her balance enough to try and get away. People keep rushing by but no one seems to notice Joanna amongst the chaos of a battered and burning _Enterprise_ and she's scared enough to cry because she can't see through the smoke, and she doesn't know where dad is.

She doesn't know what happens next other than she's just walked into something and her head really hurts. Everything goes fuzzy and the next time she's aware of anything, she's lying down in the sickbay and a pretty blonde lady is watching her with worried eyes. The worry eases when she realises Joanna's awake.

"Oh, thank God. Your father's been scared half to death. Doctor! She's awake."

In an instant dad was there, checking her over, sighing in relief when he decided she was probably going to be fine, just a knock on the head and mild smoke inhalation. She's got to stay in the sickbay for overnight observation, while the _Enterprise_ will limp toward Earth so it can be patched up too.

There aren't many people in sickbay. Just her and a few other patients, and the captain.

The captain looks bad. Jim hasn't woken up the whole time Joanna's been here but when she's feeling better, dad lets her go sit with him and hold his hand. In case he's scared, she suggested. She watches her dad washing his hands in a nearby basin and he looks scared himself. She's never seen him look like that before.

"Is Jim gonna be okay?" Joanna asks, brushing a stray strand of hair away from the captain's forehead as he sleeps. He still isn't waking. Joanna hasn't seen anyone sleep so much.

"I don't know, Jo. The first twenty-four hours are the most crucial but if he doesn't wake up soon, it means he might have slipped into a coma..."

Dad rambles some more, losing himself in medical jargon she doesn't understand. She watches Jim sleep and hopes he doesn't die, because he's nice and fun and knows how to make her dad smile.

A few days later, the _Enterprise_ has managed to make it back home and dad's taking her back to Georgia, her two-week vacation with him cut short. She still doesn't know what really happened to the _Enterprise_. Dad won't tell her much, saying that everyone's okay and that's all that matters.

Even Jim's okay now, already released from sickbay into dad's care, and he's coming home to Georgia with them. Dad says it's so he can be kept a close eye on; he doesn't want to imagine what could happen if he leaves a recovering Jim to his own devices during their unexpected shore leave.

Mom is angry about what happened on the _Enterprise_ and they have a fight. They always fight, and Joanna hates it so she goes outside to the porch where Jim's sitting on the swing, staring at the stars.

"Do they always yell at each other like that?" Jim asks her.

The stars are bright out here. When dad's in space Joanna comes out in the evenings and looks up, wondering if dad's looking down.

"Yeah," sighs Joanna, and she cuddles close. It's chilly out and she knows Jim's cold because he's got a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

"My mom and stepdad fought a lot."

She edges closer. She feels safe here, like it's just her, Jim, and the stars even as the shouting echoes outside, her parents angry words sweeping up into the night sky, carried away by the wind.

"Is that why you went into space?" she asks with a yawn, the stars making her sleepy.

"No. Space...it's weird, Jo. Because there are bad things up there, and it's not always safe, but it's the only place I've ever done anything that's mattered, you know? I think it's the same for your dad. Why he stays in the stars even though he'd rather be down here with you."

"Mom doesn't want me to go on the _Enterprise_ again."

"Maybe she's right. You're probably too young. But in a few more years, who knows? Maybe you'll be on your way to working in space like you're dad."

"You think I could?"

"Sure. There's a lot to be done up there."

Jim shifts on the swing, hugging the blanket closer around himself. He winces. He must still hurt, and Joanna wishes she could be like her dad and fix it for him. Maybe she will some day. She could be a doctor in space, just like dad. Then she could go up there whenever she wants, because she wants to make a difference too.

It'll be a long time before she can, though. In a couple of days she goes back to school, though that's okay because she can tell her friends about how brave and good Captain Kirk is. The magazines only like him because he's young and handsome; they don't talk about the important stuff.

They sit together and watch the sky, gazing at new worlds that haven't been discovered yet, but they will be soon because Joanna McCoy is going up there one day and she won't come back until she's been to them all.

She's going to be like her dad. Saving lives among the stars. It's going to be awesome, and she won't be afraid. Too many people will need her for her to be afraid.

The door opens and dad comes out. He sighs and leans against one of the support beams, but he smiles when he sees her and Jim on the swing together and he comes to join them. He sits the other side of Jim, close to him, and Jim rests his head on dad's shoulder like it's the most comfortable place in the universe.

Joanna drifts into her dreams, smiling.

(FIN)


End file.
